Sheila Lennon
Bruce McCrae (aka Rudy Cheeks) plays harmonica with The Zimmermen at the annual Bob Dylan Revival Friday night at Patrick's Pub in Providence. From left, Vincent Pasternak, Rick Bellaire, McCrae, Nick DiBiasio, Fred Wilkes and Richard Sage. Click the photo to see it larger.
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As the smallest state in the Union, Rhode Island is often used as a measure of size when describing other countries. How Many Rhode Islands is provided to pundits, newscasters, and the general public as a way of easily calculating Rhode Island-based measurements.
Plug in a country and the site returns the number of Rhode Islands that will fit into it. Three, for Gambia; 3066 for the United States.
You'll also get a "fun fact." Most of us have heard these facts before. For example, "Rhode Island's state rock is Cumberlandite, a type of iron ore found only in Rhode Island" Some are not quite true: "..."Victory Over Japan Day" is an official holiday."
Jerimoth Hill is probably in there somewhere, just waiting for somebody to ask about the right country. (It's not France, Spain or Germany, China, Japan or Monaco.)
The odd Google map view is unnecessary -- one silhouetted map of Rhode Island sitting inside the borders of somewhere else. But it's all harmless enough.
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The right-brain side of the annual Dylan Night invitation to those on the mailing list
Providence's annual Bob Dylan night happens at Patrick's Pub, 381 Smith St., Fri. May 17, starting at 7 p.m. $8. (401) 808-0184. This long-running gig can be corny, smart, funky, badly lit and has my heart.
Dylan Night is not slick. Nobody's analyzing, criticizing, this is a gathering of fans. There's obscure video of Bob, requests, acoustic sets by live bands in a Smith Hill neighborhood bar.
Richard Ribb and The BusKings, who've played the last two years, will return. Here's an mp3 to let you hear what they sound like: "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight".
And this year the The Zimmermen, who've had their own Dylan Nights up north in Pascoag, are joining forces. Tunes from the Zimmermen -- Rick Bellaire, Nick DiBiasio, Vincent Pasternak, Richard Sage and Fred Wilkes -- playing live in 2012:
-- "You Angel You", Fred Wilkes on vocal.
-- "Farewell Angelina", Rick Bellaire singing.
Dylan's birthday is May 24. He'll be 72.
The party starts promptly at 7.
Bonus:
You walk into the room
With your pencil in your hand
You see somebody naked
And you say, "Who is that man?"
You try so hard
But you don't understand
Just what you'll say
When you get home
Because something is happening here
But you don't know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?
It's about a journalist.
May 2013:
Search Engine Land: Google & Time Inc. Launch Timelapse: See How Any Part Of The World Has Changed Over Time
Timelapse
Watch the world change over the course of nearly three decades of satellite photography
Providence hasn't changed much -- from a satellite's faraway perspective -- but I can't find a way to link to it; click "Explore the World" there and plug in "providence, ri."
April 2012:
Historical photos from The Providence Journal, then and now,
These can go back to the 1860s, and are high-res.
Changes are significant.
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Peter Phipps
Haven Bros. backup truck
We saw a different Haven Bros. Diner truck outside City Hall this week, more a self-contained food truck than a diner on wheels.
Cassandra Giusti, speaking for her husband, Haven Bros. owner Ivan Giusti, said the trailer latch on the main truck broke, and will take a week to fix.
Meanwhile, they're using their backup, a truck they sometimes take to events.
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New Cat Species Found on Google Street View, pictured at right. The perils of stitching when one object is moving.
THE WORST ROOM: "A blog about trying to find affordable housing in New York City." You can spend a lot of money for a lower bunk or a closet. A garret would be a luxury over these.
(Online-Only Notices) Something to keep in mind as you write your tongue-in-cheek life story.
These people applied to go to Mars. I am not among them.
]]>They Tweet where they're setting up shop, some several times daily -- every time they move -- others just on weekends or at special events.
We're up to 21 25 food trucks, although two haven't posted this year. They may be back as the weather warms, so we won't give up on them.
Lotus Pepper (Thanks to Viet Le and Suzie Metivier for telling us about this Vietnamese food truck.)
PORTU-GALO (Thanks to Cassandra Duarte for the tip about this Portuguese food truck.)
Noble Knots (Thanks to Kimberley Nelson for telling us about them.)
Haven't posted this year:
Know of others? Please tell me!
One off:
I've tracked Where is Radish? for a long time, but they seem to tell you where they were after they've left, or, as with their most current tweet, make announcements that don't fit the trucks' tradition of using twitter to broadcast their location in realtime: "This summer we will be delivering empanadas to local businesses & offices. Contact empanadas@whereisradish.com for more info!"
If they want to tell us where they're going to be, I'd love to add them to the feed.
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It looks like a newspaper, a high school newspaper.
It 's called "The Media" and had they not used a Roman interpretation of the letter "U" I wouldn't have been able to show it to you.
The new Web weekly, publishing Fridays, is the labor of love of some of the last Boston Phoenix staffers.
I love the spirit of this thing, the creative response to life being upended by karma, the gods, Plutonic economic forces, the fickle finger.
Their work, in a convenient link form, up to the point where I fell asleep and punted, slacker mode winning. No disrespect intended to stories I hadn't met yet:
Defining and saving the spirit of alt-weeklies by Liz Pelly. The mission statement.
IMMIGRANT SONGS Words from the Phoenix's former editor-in-chief / by Carly Carioli, former editor in chief now at boston.com ("new projects aimed at attracting younger readers"-- Dan Kennedy).Boston Magazine covers it: Former Phoenix Reporters Launch Online Alt-Weekly.
Mixtape: 8tracks radio | THE MEDIA MANIFESTO, Embedded. This would have improved my high school newspaper enormously. (Yes, I was its editor.)WEED IN THE MEDIA Seeking enlightenment in Denver / by Ariel Shearer
Lisa Williams likes it too: The Pressthink of FvckTheMedia
It's done in minimalist grayscale and html, and those subtle ellipses are the links to the rest of the stories. The Media is anti-Seo, not using content as bait for eyeball counts, has no ads but takes donations.
I want this to be the seed of a new new media. I want to publish this entry now, incomplete as it is, so you might see it before the weekend and be happy something like The Media is holding down the righteous end of the need to know and write about it.
Go there...
]]>The links all work, as well.
Here's the CERN blog post about it. (Yes, the Web comes from the same folks who brought us the Large Hadron Collider.) Restoring the first website
]]>From 5 p.m. to 7 p.m, record-store vendors will set up in the cafe, and there'll be live acoustic music in the theater. The first screening is at 7 p.m., and between 8 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. DJ Squid spins vinyl. The second showing is at 9:30 p.m. The Rocket food plans to park in front of the theater.
Here's the trailer:
The Cable Car is at 204 South Main st., Providence . More information: 272-3970.
]]>Proposed changes to your 2011 Form 1040
Amount due: $33,331
The W-2 numbers they were adjusting weren't my numbers. I hadn't claimed the education credit and mortgage insurance deductions they disallowed.
A call to the IRS the next day and a very savvy agent made sense of it all: My identity had been stolen. When I asked how he knew this was identity theft he said, "Someone used your name and Social Security number to file and received a refund of $5,787."
According to the W-2 filed with the IRS, I work at CVS. The IRS had two W-2s for me. The "underreported income" came from adding my real W-2 to the phony one.
Thinking back, I recall filing on tax day, encountering busy servers and getting a message that my return had been rejected because I had already filed. I thought it was an error, and part of my job here is to get software to behave. I had the bright idea to file using my husband's Social Security number, and it worked. The return was accepted and the state return was, too.
The thief didn't know I was married. He/she/it filed an individual return.
On the advice of a second agent I spoke with when I called to request an extension before any action was taken against me, I e-filed my 2012 return right away. It was initially rejected because I didn't know what the thief had listed as Adjusted Gross Income. The state rejected it because the feds had.
Fortunately, my pin from last year worked, and both returns were accepted. That's when I knew for sure that my 2011 return had been initially accepted -- I got the refund from the state. The IRS never notified me that my return was eventually rejected. I didn't notice they hadn't debited my account for my 2011 payment.
I took three days of vacation time to gather all my documents and prepare my response to the IRS. Here's the cover letter for the response package I sent to the Andover IRS office:
March 18, 2013Dear IRS,
In addition to the documentation Mr. Covell (Badge number: xxxxxx) told me March 7 on the telephone to send -- the signed Affidavit of Identity Theft with a statement, and a scanned, legible copy of my R.I. driver's license -- I am also providing a copy of the 2011 joint 1040 that we thought we had e-filed last April and my legitimate 2011 W-2. We have today filed that return on paper and sent it to Hartford along with a check for the $222 we owed (copy enclosed).
In addition, I'm enclosing an email from TaxAct software confirming that "your e-filing was rejected due to your SSN being used on another filed tax return."
I suspect that the thief got my personal information when (credit card company) was hacked in October, 2011. I'm enclosing a copy of the emailed Fraud Alert of Oct. 29, 2011 that preceded the issuance of new cards and numbers.
I tried to report the identity theft to the Providence (R.I.) police today but they refused to accept a report without something in writing from the IRS confirming the theft. I hope part of the resolution of this process is such a statement.
Thank you,
I was thinking that it's almost time to call to ask for another extension when I got another letter from the IRS on Friday.
"Based on your response dated 03/18/2013, no further action is required at this time for your 2011 case. We have placed an identity theft indicator on your account and are completing all adjustments to your accounts."
I had been prepared for a long, drawn-out process, but this arrived 37 days, three lost vacation days and two phone calls after their first notification of underpayment.
What I would do differently: If you get a rejection when you e-file, take a screenshot of it and save it. Print out your return and mail it. Enclose a note that the e-file was rejected along with a printout of the screenshot. Make copies of everything. Call the IRS and tell someone. Get their name and badge number and do exactly what they tell you to do.
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Linda Haas
An award-winning fairy garden by professional garden designer Linda Haas of Tree Star Hollow, used in a brochure to illustrate the first Fairy Garden Day at the Roger Williams Park Botanical Garden.
Jennie Sadler
This fairy house is made of bark and moss, twigs and twine, and a pliable flower stem. It's 17 inches tall, 13 inches wide. Click the image for a larger view.
The Providence Parks Department and URI Master Gardeners are hosting their first Fairy Garden Day at the Roger Williams Botanical Garden on Sunday. Kids will be able to make their own fairy gardens there from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. There'll be storytelling and a scavenger hunt, and kids are encouraged to dress as fairy folk (that includes gnomes, elves, leprechauns...).
It's all about scale, of course. And about a doll's house made from objects found in nature, but the "doll" is a fantasy creature of magic and myth, elusive at best.
Jennie Sadler
There's a café in the center of Sadler's Fairy Hollow neighborhood "where all the fairy folk can congregate to share tea, and gossip about the gnomes from the town over," fairy gardener Sadler writes. Click the image for a larger view.
Sadler says, "The idea is that by making these houses out of natural items such as moss and pine cones and sticks, people look more closely at the natural world.Also it is an inexpensive craft project to do as a family."
Houses -- and a fairy café -- from her Fairy Hollow neighborhood dot this entry, and offer inspiration. I'm walking around my yard seeing winter's leavings with new eyes. Dried allium puffballs can be seats, that low green weed that's spotting my garden beds looks like thatch for a roof. I would volunteer a pansy to see a pansy tree overshadowing a tiny roofline. Take a walk around your yard, or in the woods, looking for small things that would look huge in a tiny landscape.
Jennie Sadler
Two houses on a stump made from plant material are each 10 inches tall, 5.5 inches wide. Click the image for a larger view.
The Master Gardeners "plan to build small fairy neighborhoods throughout the established gardens of the botanical center," according to Sadler and these can also be viewed next week from Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.
You'll see many more fairy houses, gardens, and more at the Botanical Center. "A group of Master Gardener volunteers and their friends have been working on crafting fairy houses for the last few months. We have a beach fairy house, woodland houses, and even some fairy boats," Sadler says.
She's not a purist -- she uses dollhouse furniture in some of her fairy gardens:
Jennie Sadler
Sadler writes, "The fairy garden is made from a produce box. It is 12 by 9 inches. It has smaller plants to give the effect of a fairy-sized garden. It even has a bee hive, and a tiny bench. Dollhouse furniture works well in fairy size gardens."
Here's a slideshow of many of the fairy gardens the Master Gardeners will display: Gallery: Fairy Gardens.
Sunday's event is free with the price of admission to the Botanical Garden (adults: $3, children 6-12: $1.00, under 6: free). More information: 785-9450 ext. 250.
More:
-- Fabulous Fairy Gardens at pinterest. One of the best uses of pinterest is to get a visual overview of a topic, and this one all over the lot, from totally manmade to artfully arranged natural objects.
My favorite quote here: "Fairy gardening is all fun and no sweat...unlike human gardening! The creative process is so much fun. Once you start thinking about the world from a fairy's perspective, you 'll start seeing fairy garden accessories everywhere you go...thrift stores, dollar stores, craft stores, medicine cabinets, trash cans...."
-- If you want to do something more gonzo, Meet Malcolm the Mantis.
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Richard Dadd's painting "The Fairy Feller's Master-Stroke," donated to the Tate Gallery by poet Siegfried Sassoon. Click it to see a larger view.
Dadd painted this between 1855 and 1864 while confined to the Criminal Lunatic department of Bethlem Hospital ("Bedlam") in Lambeth, England after a voice commanded him to kill his father and he did. Schizophrenia seemed to have set in during a tour of the Middle East as draftsman for the mayor of Newport, England. On a boat trip up the Nile he claimed to be conversing with the ancient Egyptian god Osiris.
Both Richard Dadd: Masterpieces of the asylum at the Guardian and Richard Dadd's Master-Stroke at Public Domain Review detail the life of this former painter of Shakespearean fairies whose world went dark.
Facebook today announced a new apps called Facebook Home that replaces your standard Android's homescreen with an immersive Facebook experience featuring full-screen photos, status updates, and notifications. Facebook also announced a special version of Home will come pre-installed on the new HTC First phone on AT&T.Cute. Warm and fuzzy kid stuff, like "Santa Claus is coming to town." Leave it to Om Malik (GigaOm) to pull back the Big Brother behind the beard:Home will launches on April 12th in the US, and will be available to users of Android Jelly Bean and Ice Cream Sandwich, but not Gingerbread.
Why Facebook Home bothers me: It destroys any notion of privacy
But there is a bigger worry. The phone's GPS can send constant information back to the Facebook servers, telling it your whereabouts at any time.You don't have to be a mark: Don't use the Facebook Home App, and avoid phones that come with it pre-installed.]]>
So if your phone doesn't move from a single location between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. for say a week or so, Facebook can quickly deduce the location of your home. Facebook will be able to pinpoint on a map where your home is, whether you share your personal address with the site or not. It can start to build a bigger and better profile of you on its servers. It can start to correlate all of your relationships, all of the places you shop, all of the restaurants you dine in and other such data. The data from accelerometer inside your phone could tell it if you are walking, running or driving. As Zuckerberg said -- unlike the iPhone and iOS, Android allows Facebook to do whatever it wants on the platform, and that means accessing the hardware as well.This future is going to happen - and it is too late to debate. However, the problem is that Facebook is going to use all this data -- not to improve our lives -- but to target better marketing and advertising messages at us. Zuckerberg made no bones about the fact that Facebook will be pushing ads on Home.